#THE MADRAS CITY CIVIL COURT ACT, 1892 
_________ 

##ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 
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SECTIONS 

1. Title and commencement. 
2. Definitions. 
3. Constitution of the City Court. 
4. Appointment, suspension and removal of Judges. 
5. Judge of City Court to be Judge of Small Clause Court. 
6. Powers of Judges when City Court consists of more than one Judge. 
7. Appointment, powers, duties and punishment of ministerial officers. 
8. Questions arising in suits, etc., under Act to be dealt with according to law administered by High 
    Court. 
9. Valuation of immoveable property for jurisdictional purposes. 
10. Process-fees. 
11. Appointment of Receivers. 
12. [Repealed.]. 
13. Repayment of half fees on settlement before hearing. 
14. Allowance for fees paid in City Court in cases removed to High Court. 
15. Appeals. 
16. Saving of original civil jurisdiction of High Court. 
17. Seal to be used. 
18. Holidays and vacations. 



**Subject to verification**

 
 
#THE MADRAS CITY CIVIL COURT ACT, 1892 

##ACT NO. 7 OF 1892 

[12th August, 1892.] 

An Act to establish an additional Civil Court for the City of Madras. 

  WHEREAS it is expedient to establish an additional Civil Court for the City of Madras; It is hereby 
enacted as follows:— 

1. **Title and commencement.**—(1) This Act may be called the Madras City Civil Court Act, 1892; 

2. **Definitions.**—In this Act, unless there is something repugnant in the subject or context,— 

  (1) “City Court” means the Court established under the next following section; 

  (2)  “City  of  Madras”  means  the  area  within  the  local  limits  for  the  time  being  of  the  ordinary 
original civil jurisdiction of the High Court; 

  (3) “High Court” means the High Court of Judicature at Madras; and 

  (4) “Small Cause Court” means the Court of Small Causes of Madras. 

3. **Constitution of the City Court.**—The Local  Government  may,  by  notification  in  the  official 
Gazette, establish a Court, to be called the Madras City Civil Court, with jurisdiction to receive, try and 
dispose  of  all  suits  and  other  proceedings  of  a  civil  nature  not  exceeding  two  thousand  five  hundred 
rupees in value and arising within the City of Madras, except suits or proceedings which are cognizable— 

  (a) by  the  High  Court  as  a  Court  of  Admiralty  or  Vice-Admiralty  or  as  a  Colonial  Court  of 
Admiralty, or as a Court having testamentary, intestate or matrimonial jurisdiction, or 

  (b) by the Court for the relief of inso0lvent debtors, or 

  (c) by the Small Cause Court. 

4. **Appointment, suspension and removal of Judges.**—The Local Government may, by notification 
in the official Gazette, appoint so many persons as it may think fit to be Judges  of the City Court; and 
may, for any misconduct by a like notification, suspend or remove any Judge so appointed. 

5. **Judge of City Court to be Judge of Small Clause Court.**—(1) Every person appointed a Judge 
of the City Court shall be, by virtue of his office, a Judge of the Small Cause Court with respect to cases 
cognizable by that Court. 

  (2) Every such Judge shall be liable to perform any duties of a Judge of the Small Cause Court which 
the Chief Justice of the High Court may require him to perform. 

6. **Powers of Judges when City Court consists of more than one Judge.**—When the  City  Court 
consists of more than one Judge,— 

  (a) each of the Judges may exercise all or any of the powers conferred on the Court by this Act or 
any other law for the time being in force; 
 
  (b) the Local Government may appoint any one of the Judges to be the principal Judge; and 

  (c) the principal Judge may, from time to time, make such arrangements as he may think fit for 
the distribution of the business of the Court among the various Judges thereof. 

7. **Appointment, powers, duties and punishment of ministerial officers.**—(1) The  Judge  of  the 
City  Court,  or,  when  the  Court  consists  of  more  than  on  Judge,  the  principal  Judge,  may  from  time  to 
time, with the sanction of the Local Government, appoint as many clerks, bailiffs and other ministerial 
officers  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  administration  of  justice  by  the  Court  and  for  the  exercise  and 
performance of the powers and duties conferred and imposed on it by this Act or any other law for the 
time being in force. 

  (2) The  officers so  appointed  shall  exercise  such  powers and  discharge  such  duties of a  ministerial 
nature as the said Judge or principal Judge may from time to time direct. 

  (3) The said Judge or principal Judge may, subject to the control of the High Court,— 

    (a) suspend or remove any officer so appointed, or 

    (b) fine any such officer who is guilty of misconduct or neglect in the performance of the duties 
of his office. 

  (4) Any fine imposed on an officer under sub-section (3) may be deducted from his salary. 

8. **Questions arising in suits, etc., under Act to be dealt with according to law administered by 
High Court.**—All  questions  which  arise  in suits or other  proceedings  under this  Act  in the  City  Court 
shall be dealt with and determined according to the law for the time being administered by the High Court 
in the exercise of its ordinary original civil jurisdiction. 

9. **Valuation of immoveable property for jurisdictional purposes.**—When  the  subject-matter  of 
any suit or other proceeding is land or a house or a garden, its value for the purposes of the jurisdiction 
conferred  on  the  City  Court  by  this  Act  shall,  subject  to  the  other  provisions  of  this  Act,  be  fixed  in 
manner provided by the Court-fees Act, 1870 (7 of 1870), section 7, clause v. 

10. **Process-fees.**—Fees chargeable  for  serving  or executing  processes issued  by  the  City  Court,  or 
served or executed under its direction or control, shall be such as the High Court may prescribe with the 
approval of the Governor of Fort St. George in Council. 

11. **Appointment of Receivers.**—The  powers  conferred  by  Chapter  XXXVI  of  the  Code  of  Civil 
Procedure (14 of 1882), on High Courts and District Courts as to the appointment of Receivers may be 
exercised by the City Court or any Judge thereof. 

12. *[Amendment of Act 15 of 1882, section 31].—Rep. by the Repealing Act, 1938 (1 of 1938), s. 2 
and the Schedule (w.e.f.* 26-2-1938). 

13. **Repayment of half fees on settlement before hearing.**—Whenever any suit or proceeding in the 
City Court is settled by agreement of the parties before issues have been settled or any evidence recorded, 
half the amount of the institution fees paid by the plaintiff shall be repaid to him by the Court. 

14. **Allowance for fees paid in City Court in cases removed to High Court.**—When, under 
section  13  of  the  letters  Patent  for  the  High  Court,  dated  the  twenty-eight  day  of  December,  1865,  or 
under section 25 of the Code of Civil Procedure (14 of 1882), the High Court has removed for trial by 
itself any suit from the City Court, fees on the scale for the time being in force in the High Court as a 
Court  of  ordinary  original  civil  jurisdiction  shall  be  payable  in  that  Court  in  respect  of  the  suit  and 
proceedings therein: 

  Provided that, in the levy of any such fees which, according to the practice of the Court, are credited 
to the Government, credit shall be given to the plaintiff in the suit for any fee which in the City Court he 
has already paid under the Court-fees Act, 1870, on the plaint. 

15. **Appeals.**—(1) The Court authorized to hear appeals from the City Court shall be the High Court. 

(2) The period of limitation for an appeal from a decree or order of the City Court shall be the same as 
that provided by law for an appeal from a decree or order of the High Court in the exercise of its original 
jurisdiction. 

16. **Saving of original civil jurisdiction of High Court.**—Nothing in this Act contained shall affect 
the original civil jurisdiction of the High Court: 

Provided that— 

  (1) if  any  suit  or  other  proceeding  is  instituted  in  the  High  Court  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Judge  who  tries  the  same  (whose  opinion  shall  be  final),  ought  to  have  been  instituted  in  the  City 
Court, no costs shall be allowed to a successful plaintiff, and a successful defendant shall be allowed 
his costs as between attorney and client; 

  (2) in  any  suit  or  other  proceeding  pending  at  any  time  in  the  High  Court,  and  Judge  of  such 
Court may at any stage thereof make an order transferring the same to the City Court if in his opinion 
such suit or proceeding is within the jurisdiction of that Court and should be tried therein; 

  (3) in  any  suit  or  other  proceeding  so  transferred,  the  Court-fees  Act,  1870  (7  of  1870),  shall 
apply, credit being given for any fees levied in the High Court. 

17. **Seal to be used.**—The City Court shall use a seal of such form and dimensions as may be for the 
time being prescribed by the local Government. 

18. **Holidays and vacations.**—(1) The Judge of the City Court, or, when the Court consists of more 
than one Judge, the principal Judge, shall, at the commencement of each year, draw up a list of holidays 
and  vacations  to  be  observed  in  the  Court,  and  shall  submit  the  same  for  the  approval  of  the  Local 
Government. 

  (2) Such list, when it has received such approval, shall be published in the official Gazette, and the 
said holidays and vacations shall be observed accordingly.